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investigate a safe and effective approach for enhancing the in vivo expression of recombinant genes and improving the systemic immunity of animals against infectious diseases, we employed the interleukin-7 (IL-7) gene from Tibetan pigs to construct a recombinant eukaryotic plasmid (VRTPIL-7). We first examined VRTPIL-7\u2019s bioactivity on porcine lymphocytes in vitro and then encapsulated it with polyethylenimine (PEI), chitosan copolymer (CS), PEG-modified galactosylated chitosan (CS-PEG-GAL) and methoxy poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) and PEI-modified CS (CS-PEG-PEI) nanoparticles using the ionotropic gelation technique. Next, we intramuscularly or intraperitoneally injected mice with various nanoparticles containing VRTPIL-7 to evaluate their immunoregulatory effects in vivo. We observed a significant increase in neutralizing antibodies and specific IgG levels in response to the rabies vaccine in the treated mice compared to the controls. Treated mice also exhibited increased leukocytes, CD8+ and CD4+ T lymphocytes, and elevated mRNA levels of toll-like receptors (TLR1\/4\/6\/9), IL-1, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-7, IL-23, and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-\u03b2). Notably, the recombinant IL-7 gene encapsulated in CS-PEG-PEI induced the highest levels of immunoglobulins, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, TLRs, and cytokines in the mice\u2019s blood, suggesting that chitosan-PEG-PEI may be a promising carrier for in vivo IL-7 gene expression and enhanced innate and adaptive immunity for the prevention of animal diseases.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/biology12050667","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,28]],"date-time":"2023-04-28T02:27:56Z","timestamp":1682648876000},"page":"667","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Expression Improvement of Recombinant Plasmids of the Interleukin-7 Gene in Chitosan-Derived Nanoparticles and Their Elevation of Mice Immunity"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Wenli","family":"Hou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory for Bioresource and Eco-Environment of the Education Ministry, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5172-2247","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Linhan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory for Bioresource and Eco-Environment of the Education Ministry, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jianlin","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Laboratory Medicine, Chengdu Medical College, Chengdu 610500, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yiren","family":"Gu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sichuan Academy of Animal Science, Chengdu 610066, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xuebin","family":"Lv","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sichuan Academy of Animal Science, Chengdu 610066, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiuyue","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory for Bioresource and Eco-Environment of the Education Ministry, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiangling","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sichuan Academy of Animal Science, Chengdu 610066, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hui","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"R&D Center, Chengdu Kanghua Biological Products Co., Ltd., Chengdu 610100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rong","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory for Bioresource and Eco-Environment of the Education Ministry, College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"41","DOI":"10.1016\/S1359-6101(98)00025-2","article-title":"Interleukin-7: Physiological roles and mechanisms of action","volume":"10","author":"Hofmeister","year":"1999","journal-title":"Cytokine Growth Factor Rev."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"75","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cyto.2007.07.183","article-title":"Interlinking interleukin-7","volume":"39","author":"Kittipatarin","year":"2007","journal-title":"Cytokine"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"387","DOI":"10.1093\/intimm\/dxq020","article-title":"CD28 expression redefines thymocyte development during the pre-T to DP transition","volume":"22","author":"Teague","year":"2010","journal-title":"Int. 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